Dr. Dennis L. Siluk’s has published 72-International Book. He is a poet since twelve years old, a writer, Psychologist, Ordained Minister, Decorated Veteran from the Vietnam War, Doctor in Arts and Education, and Doctor Honoris Causa from the National University of Central Peru, UNCP. He was nominated Poet Laureate in Peru. One of his books, “The Galilean”, took Honorable Mention at the 2016 Paris Book Festival and received an award from the Congress of Peru, for his cultural writings.

Monday, October 10, 2016

Three Nuns in a Basket (a short story)

Sometimes fate has a hand in
what is really happening, and we don’t catch on to it until it takes place,
after the fact. Thus, ‘Three Nuns in a Basket,’ is such a case.

It was on a Sunday October 9th,
2016, three young nuns, one Sister S., twenty-five years old, Sister B., twenty-three
years old, and Sister C., twenty-two, came over to my house for a late birthday
lunch, I had just turned 69-years old, two days prior.

After we had a good lunch at my home,
and hot coffee, and root beer floats, Sister, B., started telling about how
after 21-years, her family that had been separated, found one another. Often
times this happens in Peru, especially during the time of the terrorists (back in the mid-1990s), many
people got killed, separated, and divided. Then suddenly sister C., comes out
and says: “I saw my mother
once, in 21-years of my life, never again” you
could see it in her sad eyes, but she inferred she held no grudges. Then came
Sister S., she was in an orphanage for
three years, and nuns took her out raised her, and well, that is her story; all
a tinge sad but they made it. Nevertheless,
the irony is this: I could identify with all three, I explained to them, “Sister B., my family—after 52-years of separation,
discovered their long lost daughter, which would be my mother’s sister, back in
1985. Separated at an orphanage in the 1920s…” Then I
went on to tell Sister C., “I’ve only seen my
father once in my lifetime, and it was faded at best, and it was only for a few
minutes at a distance,” to me that was the
second coincidence. And then I looked
Sister S., and said to her, “I was on a foster
farm for three years with my brother which was until my mother could put
together enough money and get an apartment for us two boys, isn’t it peculiar,
I can identify with all three you.”(A statement-question, if at all a question…)

Then
I got up, and brought out some apples for all of my guests to eat and ponder
on, and I told myself in secret thought, there was more to this gathering than
meets the eye! (Hopefully, no one was
feeling sorry for themselves, because we were all made stronger and better for
who can feel the pain of others, without the hurt themselves.)